Valencia Ciudad del Running celebrates its 10th anniversary with an extension to its 5K Circuit
Valencia Ciudad del Running is celebrating its anniversary. The city-brand project that was launched to bring together and promote the entirety of the running movement in our city celebrates its first ten years of life and it is in great shape, having turned Valencia into a local, national and international hub in the world of running. The event was held in front of the Serranos Towers and was attended by the Mayoress of Valencia, Mª José Catalá; the Director of the Trinidad Alfonso Foundation, Juan Miguel Gómez; the City of Valencia Councillor for Sports, Rocío Gil; and the sports councillors from the past ten years, Javier Mateo, Pilar Bernabé, Maite Girau and Cristóbal Grau, as well as representatives of the organisers of the Valencia Marathon, Half Marathon, 10K Valencia and other races, along with the various running clubs in the city.
This event, promoted by the Trinidad Alfonso Foundation with the collaboration of the Ajuntament de València, kicked off these 10th anniversary celebrations with a major announcement for runners: the ‘Jardí del Turia’ 5K Circuit, the most popular training route in Spain and the most used sports infrastructure in the city, will be extended thanks to a new agreement to be signed between the city council and the Trinidad Alfonso Foundation, which was announced by the Mayoress of the city, María José Catalá, during the celebrations, as an example of a successful public-private partnership between the two institutions.
Mª José Catalá, announced the agreement with the Trinidad Alfonso Foundation “to start working on a new extension of the track to the City of Arts and Sciences and then to study, in the coming years, also connecting it with the future Parque de Desembocadura, another of the dreams and challenges of this city”, adding that this tenth anniversary is the time for “the Circuit 5K Jardí del Turia to change its name to ‘Circuit Valencia Ciudad del Running'”. When the future extension of this running circuit is completed the sports infrastructure in the green lung of the city will be renamed the ‘Circuit Valencia Ciudad del Running’, since, although it will maintain its 5,000-metre certified segment, it will extend over a longer distance.
The Circuit is the most used sports infrastructure in the city, with more than 750,000 uses per year on average since its construction, which amounts to almost 7 million over the last nine years.
With nearly 40 races a year, including twelve official races and the best 10K, half marathon and marathon races in Spain, the Valencia Ciudad del Running project has become a driving force for sport both at the local and community level, as well as at the national and international level, thanks to the high organisational quality of the city’s events, which have enhanced Valencia’s reputation around the world, which includes nine world records on the road and two on the track, as well as the five Spanish records that the city of running has set in recent years.
In this respect, Juan Miguel Gómez, Director of the Trinidad Alfonso Foundation, noted that “right now Valencia Ciudad del Running is a further symbol of this city’s identity and a great example of public-private collaboration to build and strengthen what for us, together with the Fallas, is the most important social movement in Valencia, and you only have to look down here at the Jardín del Turia park or watch any race on the calendar of events to see this for yourself. Valencia Ciudad del Running is the pride of many runners and local residents, and the envy of those who visit us and a demonstration that this city is made for running”.
New category in the Sports Merit Awards
Another of the new innovations announced by the mayoress at this event celebrating ’10 years running for Valencia’ (the motto of the 10th Anniversary) is that the City of Valencia Sports Merit Awards, organised by the Municipal Sports Foundation, will have a new category, Valencia Ciudad del Running, which will recognise the most outstanding personal or collective running event or achievement that has taken place in the city.
This 10th Anniversary event was celebrated by Valencia Ciudad del Running together with the organisers and representatives from the clubs with which it plans to commemorate its anniversary over the next twelve months through the different events and activities that will be unveiled in the coming weeks.
